A week at site:
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
August 28
A week at site:
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Wow , it is totally different than I ever could have imagined. Life takes a huge change when you are all on your own. I like how I get to cook for myself, but I do not like to do my dishes. I have made some tanzanian dishes along with some american dishes. I have made some spaghetti and peanut and butter and jelly sandwiches. I have made some chipati and peanut sauce which was so good. I have also gone and eaten some kitti moto (pig) and some rice and beans when people have come into visit. The food here has been pretty good wherever I have bought it. I also have access to a large fruit and vegetable market on a daily basis. That is really nice because it will keep me healthy. :) I have also found out where I can get some meat ground up so I can start to put it in may different meals. Tomorrow I am going to a huge market that happens twice a month. I am meeting up with some of the other volunteers and I guess they sell everything at this market. It will be such a cool experience, I am kind of picturing a tanzanian flea market, but we shall find out. I guess they have animals hanging from trees like in the other market which you can ask to cook, but they also have pots, pans, foods, locks, everything you need. I have been running a few times now. The sceanary here is so amazing it is hilly with a huge mountain in the background. Just the other day I went running up one of the hills and got to the top and looked down. The city is so pretty sitting on top of a giant hill. Hopefully soon I will get a group together to climb the mountain. While I took a break and was sitting up there I realized I really was in Africa. I saw a few of those droopy trees from the lion king and just vast openess. It really hit me I was hear and I loved it. It doesn't make missing everyone any easier, but it is so so so beautiful. I want to go around and take pictures to share, but it might be awhile before I pull out my camera. I have a neighbor who is 20 years old. He is so nice and has been showing me around town. The other day we went and meet with some missionaries in the town. They are from Ohio and are so nice. They were talking to me about coming up to watch sports games and to eat american food. It is nice to know I have someone so close that I can feel alittle more at home around. I guess they have opened a school and a church here, and hope to open some hostel for out of school youth where they are able to learn some type of trade work. They really have such huge hearts and are an amazing group of people. I can't wait to spend some more time with them. Along with with the missionaries I have also been visiting schools and clinic. I said before I am very close to two of the primary schools and a secondary school. The secondary school has been talking about maybe having me teach a class a week and I want to set up club there. The clinic is very big. I went there to talk about what I was able to help with. They sent me to the hospital which was alittle over a 2km walk one way. When I got there the guy who I am suppossed to talk with is on safari so I have to return on Monday. I am excited to see what I will be able to do and how much I can actually help. I bought a wireless card. It should be here sometime in the next few weeks which is super exciting. I will be able to read about the news and send emails more easily. I tried one out the other day and it was really slow so I dont think I will be able to skype with it, but we shall see. I think I will have to wait to skype when I go to the larger cities. So since it is after the harvest and there is lots of leftover harvest on the ground there are many rats around. I had a couple volunteers spend the night last night and they slept in my main room. They said they heard the rats scampering around. So today I set up some rat poison with some jelly. I hope it works I will keep you posted. Like always I love and miss you all more than you will ever know. Keep me in your thoughts and prayers because I truely can feel all the good thoughts. I will hopefully update you all soon.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
CONTACT INFORMATION
Cell Phone Number: 255782554851
Mailing Address: Justin Zerber
P.O. Box 144
Katesh Hanang District
Tanzania, East Africa
Mailing Address: Justin Zerber
P.O. Box 144
Katesh Hanang District
Tanzania, East Africa
August 21st
My first full day at site:
Wow so here I am. It is real. I got dropped off yesterday by peacecorps at my house. I met with a representative from the village government, ate some lunch did a little shopping in town then peacecorp left with the other three volunteers I traveled with. I was able to have out with two of the peacecorps volunteers who have been here for a year or so now last night and a little today. I am begining to start to meet my neighbors. I have a doctor who lives across the street with his family and a 20 year old male who lives next to me with an older lady. He is trying to go back to school and speaks wonderful english. Today I cleaned my house a bit and just roamed around the village. I live in a larger town which is nice because I will have access to alot of resources, but has the downfall of not being that small community. I have taken pictures of my house, and hopefully will be able to post them sometime soon. I have a three room house. It is a kitchen/living room, my bedroom, then a spare room. I have a large cemented in court yard in the back which I love. There are already some plants growing there, and hopefully soon I will be able to add more to that. I have electricity, and a water spicket in my backyard. Things are so different now that I am not at home stay. It is weird having to boil my own drinking water, warm my water for my bath and cook my own food. I think it will be nice once I get situated, but right now I just miss the simple things. My house has a beuatiful view of Mount Hanang(the 4th largest mountain in TZ)along with all the wild plants that come with it. It is very green here, and right now is the dead season. I heard when it is the raining season the plants look surreal with the bright colors. I am so exicted to climb the mountain with the other volunteers. It can be done in onew day, but it is recommened to stay the night up there. Right now the temperature is around 70 degrees which is nice. At night it gets done to around 45 which can be quite chilly, but I have plenty of blankets. My house is right by a main road which is getting paved. It is a huge proect and they are paving over 150km. It should take the next five years. With construction comes lots of dust. There is lots of dust all the time everywhere including my house. It hasnt been an issue yet, but we shall see. I have a dog left by the previous volunteer. His name is Batman and is a black lab mix. Because of the weather he is able to sleep and stay outside, he follows me everywhere. I dont really take care of him, because he is able to find his own food and water, he just stay at my house. My house is very close to a primary school. This means I see kids all the time coming and going. I think it will be good for me to be that close. Also there is a soccer feild close by. I heard that there is not a soccer team set up, so that might be on my list of things to do. Since the road is so bad it will be very difficult to have commetitions, but I want to figure something out. My fellow volunteers are an hour to 4 hours drive in my region. There are seven total. The four that just got installed yesterday, two education volunteers and a health volunteer. I was able to meet the health and an education volunteer yesterday and they seem very excited to have us. Back to the road issue, since it is under construction travel any where in the country will be very time consumming. I think it will take me atleast a day to get anywhere. To travel all the way south where friends of mine from class have been place it may take four days. Tomorrow I plan to explore the village with my neighbor. I am going to look into buying a couch for my house along with buy some charcoal to cook with and some other odds and ends. I want to get a grasp on the city and figure out where things are located. My mailing address is now listed above. I have heard that mail is pretty quick and easy here which is nice. I have been told if packages are sent, send them in envelopes instead of boxes, because they have a higher success rate. For the next three months I am suppossed to get intragrated within the community. I think it will be hard because of the size, but I am willing to give it a go. I am also suppossed to set up contacts with futer job opportunities and find someone who will come to trainings with me. I am excited to go out and find what the village needs and wants from me. I am in site that has had around five previous volunteers. The village is used to having a peacecorps volunteer around which is nice, but I want to leave my own mark. I have internet access in town which is like a ten minute walk. It is kind of expensive so I am going to look into getting a wireless card. All is well right now. It is a bit overwhelming thinking about all the things I have ahead of me, but I am going to take it one step at a time. Well I will talk to you all very soon I hope. Now that I am at site I will be able to figure out a more concrete schedule for internet and such things. I hope all is well. I love and miss you all so much.
Wow so here I am. It is real. I got dropped off yesterday by peacecorps at my house. I met with a representative from the village government, ate some lunch did a little shopping in town then peacecorp left with the other three volunteers I traveled with. I was able to have out with two of the peacecorps volunteers who have been here for a year or so now last night and a little today. I am begining to start to meet my neighbors. I have a doctor who lives across the street with his family and a 20 year old male who lives next to me with an older lady. He is trying to go back to school and speaks wonderful english. Today I cleaned my house a bit and just roamed around the village. I live in a larger town which is nice because I will have access to alot of resources, but has the downfall of not being that small community. I have taken pictures of my house, and hopefully will be able to post them sometime soon. I have a three room house. It is a kitchen/living room, my bedroom, then a spare room. I have a large cemented in court yard in the back which I love. There are already some plants growing there, and hopefully soon I will be able to add more to that. I have electricity, and a water spicket in my backyard. Things are so different now that I am not at home stay. It is weird having to boil my own drinking water, warm my water for my bath and cook my own food. I think it will be nice once I get situated, but right now I just miss the simple things. My house has a beuatiful view of Mount Hanang(the 4th largest mountain in TZ)along with all the wild plants that come with it. It is very green here, and right now is the dead season. I heard when it is the raining season the plants look surreal with the bright colors. I am so exicted to climb the mountain with the other volunteers. It can be done in onew day, but it is recommened to stay the night up there. Right now the temperature is around 70 degrees which is nice. At night it gets done to around 45 which can be quite chilly, but I have plenty of blankets. My house is right by a main road which is getting paved. It is a huge proect and they are paving over 150km. It should take the next five years. With construction comes lots of dust. There is lots of dust all the time everywhere including my house. It hasnt been an issue yet, but we shall see. I have a dog left by the previous volunteer. His name is Batman and is a black lab mix. Because of the weather he is able to sleep and stay outside, he follows me everywhere. I dont really take care of him, because he is able to find his own food and water, he just stay at my house. My house is very close to a primary school. This means I see kids all the time coming and going. I think it will be good for me to be that close. Also there is a soccer feild close by. I heard that there is not a soccer team set up, so that might be on my list of things to do. Since the road is so bad it will be very difficult to have commetitions, but I want to figure something out. My fellow volunteers are an hour to 4 hours drive in my region. There are seven total. The four that just got installed yesterday, two education volunteers and a health volunteer. I was able to meet the health and an education volunteer yesterday and they seem very excited to have us. Back to the road issue, since it is under construction travel any where in the country will be very time consumming. I think it will take me atleast a day to get anywhere. To travel all the way south where friends of mine from class have been place it may take four days. Tomorrow I plan to explore the village with my neighbor. I am going to look into buying a couch for my house along with buy some charcoal to cook with and some other odds and ends. I want to get a grasp on the city and figure out where things are located. My mailing address is now listed above. I have heard that mail is pretty quick and easy here which is nice. I have been told if packages are sent, send them in envelopes instead of boxes, because they have a higher success rate. For the next three months I am suppossed to get intragrated within the community. I think it will be hard because of the size, but I am willing to give it a go. I am also suppossed to set up contacts with futer job opportunities and find someone who will come to trainings with me. I am excited to go out and find what the village needs and wants from me. I am in site that has had around five previous volunteers. The village is used to having a peacecorps volunteer around which is nice, but I want to leave my own mark. I have internet access in town which is like a ten minute walk. It is kind of expensive so I am going to look into getting a wireless card. All is well right now. It is a bit overwhelming thinking about all the things I have ahead of me, but I am going to take it one step at a time. Well I will talk to you all very soon I hope. Now that I am at site I will be able to figure out a more concrete schedule for internet and such things. I hope all is well. I love and miss you all so much.
Swearing in!
Ok so I need to go some pretty important updates. I passed all of my tests. I didn't do as well as I thought I did, but I did enough to pass. On Wednesday August 18th I was sworn in as an official peacecorps volunteer. It was at the US embassoradors house. It was a really nice ceremony with some speakers in english and Kiswahili. The volunteers put on a little thank you show, we sang both national anthems, gave a speech in both kiswhaili and english, and I cut the cake. After we had some odoevours, cake and some pop. It was nice to have good food. After we went to the peacecorps headquarters to finish up some last minute details along with getting paid and such. After we went to the house of the Country Director for Peacecorps. She has a beautiful house in Dar es Salaam. We had another amazing meal then we went back to the hostel to pack up so we could leave early the next morning. My trip was with three other volunteers. We drove about 10 hours to Moishi town. That is the cleaniest town in Tanzania. It is mostly a touristy town because it is the closest major town to Mount Killimanjaro. It was so nice to have a hot shower and good food again. We left again early the next morning for another 7 hour drive. We finally arrived in Katesh. Once you hit the road alittle passed Arusha, it is not paved. They are working on the road right now to try to pave it all the way through, so it takes along time to travel on.
August 14th
So I had time to write another blog this week. Things are becoming so real. I just packed up mot of my belongings so peace corps can take them to Dar es Salaam on Monday. I will bring the remaining stuff with me when I travel there on Tuesday. I have aquired another large bag of stuff.... It has new books (peace corps and novels), mosquito net, blanket, sheets, pillow, all the stuff peacecorps gave me when I arrived at my host family site. Right now it is Sunday and in a few hours I will be traveling to Tanga. We are doing a little goodbye party for my small group of volunteers I was in class with. We are going to a place that has pizza! I know it won't be as good as Hungry Howies, but I am still very excited. It is about an hour daladala(bus) ride. Rhamadan started a few days ago. My family has been fasting during the day, and only eating when the sun sets. It has been nice for me because they eat their first dinner earlier in the night. Now I have been eating around 7pm instead of 9 or 930. I think I did really well on my oral examination. I find out my results on Monday. All is good though, I hope to download your emails and then be able to answer them soon. I hope all is well. You are able to post questions on here too if you have any. Love and miss you all!
August 11th
Good morning all,
I am pre-writing a blog again, because it is so easy when I get onto internet to just post this up. Right now it is 6:30 am and I just got back from a run with the other volunteers in my village. I have to wirte this quick because I have to go to school at 7:30am. I still have to shower eat and get ready but I wanted to write a blog first. Today is Thursday and I have a security test. Yesterday I had my health examination which was pretty easy. On Friday I have my last oral examination. That will be hard, but I did pretty well on the pre test so I am not to worried. In a few days I travel to the capital city again to swear in and have dinner at the US embacy. The swearing in ceremony is on Wednesday, then I travel to site all alone on Thursday. It is so weird that I have been here almost two months now. This has been going so fast and I am having so much fun. I am excited to be on my own but sad to leave my family. It is going to be very different when I come home and no one is there to great me or cook my dinner. At the same time I am so pumped to cook my own meals again and just be on my own. It is so sad that I have gotten so close to all my other volunteers and now we are getting placed all around the country. I have been placed close to three other volunteers from my class. There are also I believe six other volunteers from other classes close to me also. I am not sure how close they are, but shouldnt be closer than a hour bus ride. I am excited because I am in the city and have electricity and easy access to water. Life will be good. Ok time to go take a bucket bath.
I am pre-writing a blog again, because it is so easy when I get onto internet to just post this up. Right now it is 6:30 am and I just got back from a run with the other volunteers in my village. I have to wirte this quick because I have to go to school at 7:30am. I still have to shower eat and get ready but I wanted to write a blog first. Today is Thursday and I have a security test. Yesterday I had my health examination which was pretty easy. On Friday I have my last oral examination. That will be hard, but I did pretty well on the pre test so I am not to worried. In a few days I travel to the capital city again to swear in and have dinner at the US embacy. The swearing in ceremony is on Wednesday, then I travel to site all alone on Thursday. It is so weird that I have been here almost two months now. This has been going so fast and I am having so much fun. I am excited to be on my own but sad to leave my family. It is going to be very different when I come home and no one is there to great me or cook my dinner. At the same time I am so pumped to cook my own meals again and just be on my own. It is so sad that I have gotten so close to all my other volunteers and now we are getting placed all around the country. I have been placed close to three other volunteers from my class. There are also I believe six other volunteers from other classes close to me also. I am not sure how close they are, but shouldnt be closer than a hour bus ride. I am excited because I am in the city and have electricity and easy access to water. Life will be good. Ok time to go take a bucket bath.
Monday, August 2, 2010
08/02/10
Hey everyone!
It is July 31st! I have been in country for a month and a half now. It seems just like yesterday I got off the plane and got on my first daladala. I am currently on a four day shadow experience. I am staying with a current peace corps volunteer who is a teacher. Myself and three other trainees are able to follow him around for a few days to see what life is really going to be like. He is stationed in Mpwapwa which is 3 hours outside of Dodoma. He is in a larger town where he has access to almost everything. He works in a school where he teaches people how to use omputers and helps to fix them when they are broken. Last night we went to a place that cooks goat on every Saturday. It reminds me of a farmers market with goat. You walk around and goats are slaughtered and cleaned hanging from trees waiting to be purchased. While you walk around you see evey part of the body being cooked in some fashion. From the blood to the stomach to the legs and ribs. When you find the uncooked whole goat you want, you bargain the price and then they will buthcer it for you right then and there. If you dont want the whole goat cooked they can separate those pieces and place in a bag for you. The parts you do want cooked they will start cooking right then and there. I was with a groupd of eight so we ate the four legs off of the goat. The rest was brought back to friends and family. You sit at your table and wait for the meat to be cooked. They bring out the goat in pieces depending on what part of the body is ready to be eaten. I have not had alot of meat since I have been here, so this was AMAZING. The meat wasn't seasoned, but cooked to perfection. It was a new experience having someone butcher a whole cooked goat leg in front of your face, but it was so good. Today we might go to a place that cooks pork. It is said to have the best pork in the village. My host family is muslim, and the community I am staying is mostly muslim, so I have had not pork since being in country. I am excited to have some cooked pork. Also, they don't know what bacon is, so we were trying to explain it to some Tanzanians over dinner, but it didnt translate very well. Ok so it took me two days to write this blog so i ate the pig. It was so yummy. We split 1.5 kilograms of pure pig between four of us along with some fried potatoes. It is so nice to eat alot of meat again. The crazy thing is I only had to pay 3000 shillings for the goat and 2000 shillings for the pig. That translates to about 2.00 and 1.50 USD. Things here are so cheap, but the income is so low it makes sense. On Wednesday I will travel back to Dar es Salaam (the capitol city). There I will open my bank account, fill out some more paper work, and have a few quick sessions before returning to my home stay family on Friday. This weekend coming up after I return to my home stay family I am having a party. It is with all the host families in the village kind of saying congratulations and we get to eat lots of good food. On the Friday before we left for shadow I found out where I will be spending the next two years....! I will be staying in a town called Katesh. The more I hear about it the more excited I get. I am actually in the town so I will have electricity and a water spicket in my courtyard. Both I did not expect to have so it is a wonderful surprise. My town is at the base of the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania which is super cool for hiking and such activities. I also heard that it is "cold" in my area. I am curious to find out how cold it will actually be, but excited to not sleep in constant sweet. I am about 4-6 hours from Arusha (one of the biggest tourist spots/prettiest places). That should be nice if I am able to visit. My banking town is the town I will be living in, so I dont have to travel to any other cities to get money or necesitites. I am going to be living up north with three other volunteers from my class all of which are enviornment. There are also five volunteers in the region right now from health enviornment and education. I am so pumped to see the mountain, I heard it is covered in green all year round. It is going to be such a cool scene to wake up to every morning. I love and miss you all! Feel free to email me @ socrswim06@gmail.com
It is July 31st! I have been in country for a month and a half now. It seems just like yesterday I got off the plane and got on my first daladala. I am currently on a four day shadow experience. I am staying with a current peace corps volunteer who is a teacher. Myself and three other trainees are able to follow him around for a few days to see what life is really going to be like. He is stationed in Mpwapwa which is 3 hours outside of Dodoma. He is in a larger town where he has access to almost everything. He works in a school where he teaches people how to use omputers and helps to fix them when they are broken. Last night we went to a place that cooks goat on every Saturday. It reminds me of a farmers market with goat. You walk around and goats are slaughtered and cleaned hanging from trees waiting to be purchased. While you walk around you see evey part of the body being cooked in some fashion. From the blood to the stomach to the legs and ribs. When you find the uncooked whole goat you want, you bargain the price and then they will buthcer it for you right then and there. If you dont want the whole goat cooked they can separate those pieces and place in a bag for you. The parts you do want cooked they will start cooking right then and there. I was with a groupd of eight so we ate the four legs off of the goat. The rest was brought back to friends and family. You sit at your table and wait for the meat to be cooked. They bring out the goat in pieces depending on what part of the body is ready to be eaten. I have not had alot of meat since I have been here, so this was AMAZING. The meat wasn't seasoned, but cooked to perfection. It was a new experience having someone butcher a whole cooked goat leg in front of your face, but it was so good. Today we might go to a place that cooks pork. It is said to have the best pork in the village. My host family is muslim, and the community I am staying is mostly muslim, so I have had not pork since being in country. I am excited to have some cooked pork. Also, they don't know what bacon is, so we were trying to explain it to some Tanzanians over dinner, but it didnt translate very well. Ok so it took me two days to write this blog so i ate the pig. It was so yummy. We split 1.5 kilograms of pure pig between four of us along with some fried potatoes. It is so nice to eat alot of meat again. The crazy thing is I only had to pay 3000 shillings for the goat and 2000 shillings for the pig. That translates to about 2.00 and 1.50 USD. Things here are so cheap, but the income is so low it makes sense. On Wednesday I will travel back to Dar es Salaam (the capitol city). There I will open my bank account, fill out some more paper work, and have a few quick sessions before returning to my home stay family on Friday. This weekend coming up after I return to my home stay family I am having a party. It is with all the host families in the village kind of saying congratulations and we get to eat lots of good food. On the Friday before we left for shadow I found out where I will be spending the next two years....! I will be staying in a town called Katesh. The more I hear about it the more excited I get. I am actually in the town so I will have electricity and a water spicket in my courtyard. Both I did not expect to have so it is a wonderful surprise. My town is at the base of the 4th largest mountain in Tanzania which is super cool for hiking and such activities. I also heard that it is "cold" in my area. I am curious to find out how cold it will actually be, but excited to not sleep in constant sweet. I am about 4-6 hours from Arusha (one of the biggest tourist spots/prettiest places). That should be nice if I am able to visit. My banking town is the town I will be living in, so I dont have to travel to any other cities to get money or necesitites. I am going to be living up north with three other volunteers from my class all of which are enviornment. There are also five volunteers in the region right now from health enviornment and education. I am so pumped to see the mountain, I heard it is covered in green all year round. It is going to be such a cool scene to wake up to every morning. I love and miss you all! Feel free to email me @ socrswim06@gmail.com
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